MANITOWOC, WI — The visitation for retired pipefitter Stosh Wojcik, originally scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Friday at Halverson-Kaczmarek Funeral Home, has been moved to 5:00 p.m. so that attendees can be home, fed, and seated in front of a television before the Brewers throw the first pitch of NLCS Game 6.
The change was announced Wednesday evening on a laminated sheet taped to the funeral home’s front door, directly above a smaller sheet noting that the parking lot would not be plowed until Monday.
Funeral director Vern Kaczmarek, reached at the home Thursday morning, said the decision was made jointly with the family and Pastor Greg Lindquist of Trinity Lutheran, and that nobody at the table needed it explained twice. “Stosh would’ve been the first one out the door at 6:45,” Vern said. “He left his own granddaughter’s baptism early in ’08.”
Eileen Wojcik, the widow, confirmed that her husband had watched every Brewers postseason game since 1981 from the same brown recliner, which has been moved to the basement to make room for casseroles. She said Stosh’s final words, delivered Tuesday at Aurora Memorial, were reportedly “is it on yet,” though she allowed he may have been asking about the oxygen.
Pastor Greg has agreed to trim his remarks to twelve minutes and skip the second hymn. The eulogy, written by Stosh’s brother-in-law Roger, will conclude with the phrase “safe at home,” which Roger described as “both spiritual and a baseball term, if you think about it.”
One cousin, Marlene Petracek of Rockford, has filed a written objection. Marlene, a Cubs fan who drove up Wednesday and intends to stay through Sunday, told the family she found the new schedule “a little fast” and said she had expected “more of a service.” She has been seated, per family request, near the door.
The Hen House across the river is opening at 4:00 p.m. specifically to receive the post-visitation crowd, and owner Bonnie Tessmer has agreed to put the game on all four televisions, including the one above the bathroom hallway that has been showing a frozen Weather Channel screen since August. Bonnie said she would not be taking food orders during innings.
Stosh’s Brewers cap, a 1982 American League Champions model that he wore to his own wedding rehearsal, will be displayed on the casket through the visitation and then returned to Eileen, who plans to wear it during the broadcast. The cap will not, per Vern’s strong recommendation, be buried with him on Saturday.
Saturday’s graveside service has been scheduled for 11:00 a.m., well clear of any Game 7 scenario, which Pastor Greg described as “prudent planning” and which Vern described as “the only call you can make.”